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REPORT 


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OF 


PROF.  EDWARD  W.  BEMIS 


J 

•  r 


AND 


CARL  H.  NAU 

Public  Accountant 


ON  THE 


True  Value  of  Ohio  Railroads 

For  the  Purpose  of  Taxation. 


Prepared  at  the  Request  of 


HON.  TOM  L.  JOHNSON, 


Mayor  of  Cleveland, 


AND  WITH  HIS  APPROVAL  AS  TO  RESULTS. 


1 9°3- 


*THE  MAGNITUDE  OF  TAX  EVASIONS  BY 
THE  RAILROADS. 


The  railroads  of  Ohio  are  appraised  for  taxation  this  year  at . $  129,062,974 

The  market  value  at  the  time  of  assessment  was . .  .  627,665,073 

The  percentage  of  assessed  to  salable  value  was  thus  only . 20.5  per  cent 

Even  if  they  were  assessed  at  only  60  per  cent  of  their  true  value, 

they  would  be  assessed  for .  376,599,041 

This  exceeds  the  present  assessment  by . .  247,536,067 

If  they  were  assessed  for  this  latter  amount  they  would  pay  to  the 

several  counties  and  their  subdivisions .  6,780,631.99 

Amount  actually  paid  in  1902  on  the  basis  of  the  assessment  of 

the  County  Boards  was .  2,296,215.90 

An  assessment  at  60  per  cent  of  true  value  would  result  in  a  gain 

in  taxes  to  the  several  counties  of .  4,484,416.09 

The  roads  paid  a  state  excise  tax,  June  30,  1901-02,  of  1-2  per  cent 

of  their  gross  receipts,  the  tax  amounting  to .  448,496.39 

This  state  tax,  thanks  to  the  agitation  already  stirred  up  by  Mr. 

Johnson,  was  raised  to  1  per  cent  of  the  gross  receipts  in  the 
spring  of  1902,  and  brings  to  the  state  during  the  tax  year 

1902-03  . . " .  1.010,013.41 

The  length  of  the  first  line  below  represents  the  true  value  of  the  rail¬ 


roads,  the  second  line  represents  60  per  cent  of  this  value,  and  the  third 
line  represents  the  actual  assessed  value. 

True  value,  $627,665,073. 


60  per  cent  of  true  value,  $376,599,041. 


Assessment,  $129,062,974. 


This  pamphlet  goes  to  press  in  September,  1903,  before  the  action  of  the 
State  Board  of  Equalization  of  Railroad  Assessments,  and  is  thus  necessarily 
based  on  the  assessment  of  the  county  auditors,  but  the  State  Board  has  de¬ 
cided  that  it  cannot  raise  the  total.  In  the  case  of  a  half  a  dozen  insignificant 
roads  the  assessment  for  1903,  even  by  the  county  auditors,  could  not  be  ascer¬ 
tained,  and  the  assessment  of  the  roads  for  1902  was  therefore  taken. 

According  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  steam  railroads  paid 
only  $2,296,215.90  of  taxes  in  1902,  or  only  1.92  per  cent  on  the  assessment  of 
$119,723,674  of  that  year.  This  is,  of  course,  exclusive  of  the  state  excise  tax 
and  of  the  unreported  but  comparatively  small  amount  of  taxes  on  property 
not  used  in  the  regular  operation  of  the  roads.  The  so-called  ‘‘grand  duplicate” 
or  assessment  of  all  property  in  Ohio  in  1902  was  $1,990,885,388,  and  the  taxes 
on  the  same,  aside  from  special  assessments  were  $43,819,603.76,  or  2.2  per  cent. 
If  the  railroad  assessment  of  $119,723,674  by  the  county  auditors  and  the  tax 
thereon  of  $2,296,215.90  be  deducted,  there  remains  a  tax  of  $41,523,387.86,  or 
2  :22  per  cent  on  the  $1,871,161,714  of  other  property.  THAT  IS,  THE  RAIL¬ 
ROADS  NOT  ONLY  ESCAPE  WITH  AN  ASSESSMENT  OF  20.5  PER 
CENT  OF  THEIR  TRUE  VALUE,  WHICH  IS  ONE-HALF  TO  ONE-THIRD 
OF  THE  AVERAGE  ASSESSMENT  ON  FARMS  AND  CITY  REAL  ES¬ 
TATE.  BUT  EVEN  ON  THEIR  LOW  ASSESSMENT  THE  ROADS  PAY 
A  TAX  OF  ONLY  1.92  PER  CENT,  AS  COMPARED  WITH  2.22  PER  CENT 
BY  OTHER  PROPERTY.  This  is  because  the  state  law  apportions 
the  property  of  railroads  for  taxation  according  to  mileage,  and  thus 
puts  a  large  majority  of  it,  including  the  immensely  valuable  terminals,  into 
country  districts,  where  the  tax  rate  on  all  property  averages  much  lower  than 
in  the  cities,  where  a  large  proportion  of  the  “grand  duplicate”  is  located, 
and  where  a  higher  tax  rate  prevails. 

The  state  excise  tax,  in  the  past,  has  done  little  more  than  equalize  this 
difference  in  the  tax  rate,  without  atoning  for  the  large  under  assessment.  The- 
local  tax  above  described  of  $2,296,215.90  and  the  excise  tax  of  $448,496.39  in 
1902  make  a  total  of  $2,744,812.29,  or  only  2.29  per  cent  on  the  assessment.  The 

♦Much  of  the  data  eiven  in  this  pamphlet,  applicable  to  the #  individual  railroads,  was 
furnished  the  local  Assessing:  Boards  of  County  Auditors  prior  to  their  action  upon  the  railroad 
assessment  of  1903.  With  some  revisions  and  enlargements  this  material  is  here  printed  in  a 
comprehensive  and  codified  form. 


new  state  tax  of  $1,010,885.80  for  1902-03  will  make  the  rate  only  2.76  per  cent. 
Now,  a  rate  on  property  in  general  of  2.22  per  cent,  assessed  at  60  per  cent  of 
its  true  value,  is  equivalent  to  1.33  per  cent  on  its  true  value.  Even  if  farm 
property  and  city  real  estate  be  assessed  on  the  average  at  only  50  per  cent  of 
its  true  value,  this  tax  rate  of  2.22  per  cent  is  equal  to  1.11  per  cent  on  the  true 
value.  On  the  other  hand,  the  new  railroad  tax  rate  of  2.76  per  cent  on  an 
assessment  of  20.5  per  cent  of  the  true  value  means  only  0.566  per  cent. 

THUS,  IF  WE  EXCLUDE  SMALL  LOCAL  TAXES  ON  PROPERTY 
NOT  USED  IN  THE  DAILY  OPERATION  OF  THE  ROADS,  THE  LAT- 
-  TER,  EVEN  WITH  THE  NEW  EXCISE  TAX,  PAY  ONLY  $5.66  ON 
EVERY  $1,000  OF  SALABLE  VALUE,  WHILE  THE  FARMER  AND  THE 
CITY  HOME  OWNER,  TO  SAY  NOTHING  OF  THE  WIDOW  AND  OR¬ 
PHAN,  WHOSE  PROPERTY  IS  IN  THE  PROBATE  COURT,  PAY  OVER 
$11,  OR  TWICE  AS  MUCH. 

Moreover,  it  is  not  the  idea  of  the  state  excise  tax  to  relieve  the  roads  from 
the  same  ratio  of  assessment  to  true  value  that  is  borne  by  other  property  and 
required  by  the  state  constitution.  The  state  excise  tax  is  presumably  intended 
to  exact  from  the  roads  some  measure  of  return,  however  inadequate,  for  the 
enormously  valuable  special  privileges  conferred  by  state  law,  and  which  the 
ordinary  farmer  and  business  man  do  not  enjoy.  These  special  privileges  are 
the  right  to  secure  a  continuous,  uninterrupted  right  of  way  from  one  end  of 
the  state  to  the  other,  and  from  the  heart  of  Cincinnati  or  Cleveland  to  the 
business  center  of  Toledo,  Columbus  or  Dayton,  as  the  case  may  be.  But 
Ohio  neither  makes  the  state  tax  at  all  adequate  to  cover  these  special  privi¬ 
leges,  nor  do  the  assessments  by  the  county  boards,  and  the  taxes  thereon 
amount  to  one-half  what  is  imposed  on  the  competitive  business  of  farming 
and  on  the  homes  of  the  people.  Is  this  fair?  It  is  right? 

Instead  of  mending,  conditions  are  growing  worse.  For  several  years 
prior  to  1894,  the  earnings  of  the  railroads  in  Ohio  as  a  whole  were  not  given 
in  the  reports  of  the  state  railroad  commissioner,  the  office  then  being  held  by 
ex-Congressman  Norton.  Comparing  1894  with  1902,  however,  it  appears  that 
during  those  eight  years  the  gross  earnings  from  operation  of  the  roads  within 
the  state  increased  from  $60,140,831  to  $101,001,341,  or  67.9  per  cent,  and  the 
net  earnings  from  $16,910,176  to  $32,217,512,  or  90.5  per  cent,  while  the  assess¬ 
ment  was  raised  from  $107,969,214  to  $119,723,674,  or  only  10.9  per  cent.  To  be 
sure,  the  assessment  in  1903  was  7.8  per  cent  more  than  in  1902,  but  the  some¬ 
what  incomplete  data  at  hand  reveals  a  still  larger  increase  in  earnings. 


McKINLEY’S  TAX  COMMISSION. 

Even  in  1893,  the  state  tax  commission,  appointed  by  Governor  McKinley, 
declared :  “It  is  clear  that  the  railways  of  the  state  paid  taxes  on  a  higher 
valuation  in  1878  than  they  did  in  1892.  It  is  proper  to  add  that  the  year  1878 
has  been  casually  selected,  and  not  because  the  valuations  of  that  year  in  any 

material  way  differed  from  other  years  of  that  period . The 

commission  is  forced  to  the  irresistible  conclusion  that  owners  of  railway  prop¬ 
erty  do  not  pay  anything  like  the  amount  of  the  taxes  which  are  paid  by  other 
people,  either  in  proportion  to  the  earnings  received,  or  in  proportion  to  the 
value  of  their  properties.  There  seem  to  be  constantly  at  work  influences  which 
pull  down  and  keep  down  the  appraised  values  of  these  properties.  If  the 
j .  question  were  looked  at  from  only  one  standpoint,  it  might  perhaps  admit  of 
some  explanation.  So  many  different  considerations,  however,  all  pointing  to  the 
same  conclusion,  have,  of  course,  a  cumulative  force.  If  these  influences,  con- 
■j  stantly  at  work,  have  been  so  potent  in  the  past,  they  will  continue  to  operate  in 
the  same  way  in  the  future.” 

As  shown  above,  this  prediction  in  the  closing  sentence  has  proved  correct. 
5  Even  with  the  one  per  cent  tax  on  gross  receipts,  the  total  taxes  paid  by  roads 
in  1902-03  are  only  about  3.6  per  cent  of  their  gross  receipts  and  11.3  per  cent 
of  their  net  earnings.  In  contrast  with  this  the  Ohio  tax  commission  in  1893 
stated  that  “Investments  in  real  estate  in  Cleveland  and  elsewhere  pay  from 
16  to  25  per  cent  of  their  gross  rentals  in  taxes,  while  banks  pay  20  per  cent 
or  more  of  their  net  income  in  taxes.” 


UNRELIABILITY  OF  THE  STATE  REPORTS. 


Although  forced  in  many  cases  to  rely  on  the  state  reports,  they  have  been 
found  so  inaccurate  as  to  arouse  much  suspicion  of  whatever  they  give. 


U  *  RO  a 


Two  examples  may  be  cited :  The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  in  its 
last  published  volume  of  “Statistics,”  pages  93-4,  gives  the  total  taxes  paid  by 
all  the  Ohio  roads,  June  30,  1900-01,  as  $74,253.43  less  than  is  given  in  the 
report  of  the  Ohio  Railway  Commissioner  for  the  same  period  (Report  1901. 
pp.  257,  271). 

Again,  our  state  commissioner,  after  some  correspondence  and  an  inter¬ 
view,  has  admitted,,  through  his  chief  clerk,  to  the  following  mistakes  on  a 
single  page  of  summaries,  page  21,  of  his  report  for  1902 : 

(1)  He  gives  on  this  page  the  taxes  paid  in  Ohio  for  1902,  which 
include'  the  excise  taxes  and  all  other  taxes,  even  U.  S.  revenue.  Then  he  gives 
the  excise  taxes  separately,  and  for  a  later  date,  when  they  were  over  100  per  cent 
larger,  without  explaining  the  change  of  date. 

(2)  Finally,  he  adds  together  the  latter  tax  and  the  total  first  given  and 
reduces  this  absolutely  false  and  magnified  total  to  a  mileage  basis,  as  the  total 
for  the  year,  and  all  on  the  same  page! 

(3)  Even  his  first  total  is  now  admitted  to  be  wrong  by  over  $250,000,  and 
is  in  conflict  with  other  totals  on  pages  271  and  285. 

METHOD  OF  DETERMINING  THE  TRUE  VALUE 
OF  RAILROADS. 

The  state  constitution  requires  all  property  to  be  assessed  at  its  “true  value 
in  money.”  The  United  States  Courts  have  repeatedly  and  consistently  held  that 
under  such  a  provision  a  legislature  may  justly  order  the  assessing  board  to 
fix  upon  the  market  value  of  the  securities  of  a  company  as  the  true  value  of 
its  property,  in  Ohio  the  Nichols  law  (Revised  Stat.  Sec.  2777-80,  April  27, 
1893,)  applies  this  method  in  large  measure  to  express,  telegraph  and  telephone 
companies. 

In  the  absence  of  any  statutory  methods  of  assessment  relative  to  railroads, 
the  boards  of  county  auditors  are  free,  and  are  in  duty  bound  to  interpret  what 
law  there  is  in  the  light  of  the  constitution  and  assess  the  entire  “true  value  in 
money”  not  given  under  the  head  of  rolling  stock,  moneys,  buildings,  etc.,  as 
included  under  “roadbed”  or  under  property  not  otherwise  assessed.  But  only 
the  auditor  of  Cuyahoga  county  has  tried  to  do  this,  and  he  has  in  every  case  been 
outvoted. 

The  true  principle  was  well  expressed  in  the  famous  decision,  never  since 
overruled,  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  in  an  Illinois  tax  case  (State’s 
Railroad  Tax  Cases,  92  U.  S.  575,  quoted  and  reaffirmed  in  Railroad  vs. 
Backus,  154  U.  S.  429)  :  “It  is  obvious  that  when  you  have  ascertained  the 
current  cash  value  of  the  whole  funded  debt  and  the  current  cash  value  of  the 
entire  number  of  shares,  you  have,  by  the  action  of  those  who,  above  all 
others,  can  best  estimate  it,  the  true  value  of  the  road.” 

The  United  States  Supreme  Court  in  upholdindg  the  Nichols  law  (Adams 
Express  Co.  vs.  Ohio  State  Auditor,  166  U.  S.,  185,  decided  March  15,  1897,) 
made  the  following  ringing  declarations  : 

“Whenever  separate  articles  of  tangible  property  are  joined  together,  not 
simply  by  unity  of  ownership,  but  in  a  unity  of  use,  there  is  not  infrequently 
developed  a  property,  intangible  though  it  may  be,  which  in  value  exceeds  the 
aggregate  of  the  value  of  the  separate  pieces  of  tangible  property.  Upon  what 
theory  of  substantial  right  can  it  be  adjudged  that  the  value  of  this  intangible 
property  must  be  excluded  from  the  tax  lists,  and  the  only  property  placed 
thereon  be  the  separate  pieces  of  tangible  property? . Accumu¬ 

lated  wealth  will  laugh  at  the  crudity  of  taxing  laws  which  reach  only  the  one 
and  ignore  the  other;  while  they  who  own  tangible  property  not  organized  into 
a  single  producing  plant  will  feel  the  injustice  of  a  system  which  so  misplaces 
the  burden  of  taxation . What  a  mockery  of  substantial  jus¬ 

tice  it  would  be  for  a  corporation  whose  property  is  worth  to  its  stockholders, 
for  the  purposes  of  income  and  sale,  $16,800,000,  to  be  adjudged  liable  for  taxa¬ 
tion  upon  only  one-fourth  of  that  amount.  The  value  which  property  bears  in 
the  market,  the  amount  for  which  its  stock  can  be  bought  and  sold,  is  the  real 
value.  Business  men  do  not  pay  cash  for  property  in  moonshine  or  dreamland. 
They  buy  and  pay  for  that  which  is  of  value  in  its  power  to  produce  income,  or 
for  purposes  of  sale.” 

This  decision  was  in  no  way  overruled,  as  some  railroad  attorneys  perversely 
claim,  by  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company  decision  in  1898  (171  U.  S.  138). 
which  merely  ordered  that  the  accounting  for  certain  physical  property  and  con¬ 
tracts  transferred  under  an  illegal  lease  should  not  take  into  account  the  value 


of  securities  because  “the  market  value  of  the  shares  of  this  stock  was  made  up, 
to  some  extent  at  least,  of  certain  factors  which  the  lessee  cannot,  under  the  rules 
of  law,  be  held  responsible  for  in  this  case  .  .  .  in  an  utterly  void  lease.” 

The  fact  that  corporation  attorneys  have  been  able  to  find  no  stronger  case 
than  his  in  their  behalf  shows  the  weakness  of  their  cause. 

With  regard  to  railroad  property,  the  Ohio  Legislature  has  imposed  no 
method  upon  the  assessing  bodies.  They  are  left  free  to  carry  out  the  spirit 
and  letter  of  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  State.  The  Supreme  Court  has, 
however,  said  that  the  earning  power  of  property  ought  to  be  considered  and 
that  the  mere  cost  of  construction  or  of  duplication  of  the  tangible  assets  of  a 
plant  is  not  its  true  value  in  money  as  a  going  concern. 

State  ex  rel.  vs.  Halliday,  61  O.  S.  376. 

In  the  case  last  cited  the  State  Auditor  instructed  the  auditor  of  Franklin 
county  to  return  telephone  instruments  leased  from  the  American  Bell  Telephone 
Company  not  at  their  cost,  namely  $3.42,  but  at  a  capitalization  of  their  rental 
value  of  $14  per  annum.  On  page  379,  the  court  says : 

“The  legislature,  it  will  be  observed,  has  made  no  attempt  to  prescribe  the 
means  by  which  the  money  value  of  an  article  for  taxation  may  be  ascertained, 
nor  in  any  way  to  limit  the  inquiry.  It  has  left  open  to  the  person  who  is  to 
perform  this  duty  every  avenue  that  leads  to  information  which  in  its  nature 
bears  on  the  question.  The  conscientious  officer  will  avail  himself  of  all  such 
information.  No  fact  or  circumstance  having  such  bearing  will  be  disregarded 
by  him  if  called  to  his  attention.  That  the  income  producing  capacity  of  an  article 
is  an  important  factor  in  determining  its  value  is  so  obvious  as  to  seem  beyond 
the  bounds  of  controversy.  This  doctrine  was  sanctioned  in  its  application  to 
real  estate  in  State  vs.  Jones,  auditor,  51  Ohio  St.,  513,  and  in  Express  Co.  vs. 
Ohio,  166  U.  S.  220,  and  no  reason  is  perceived  nor  has  any  been  assigned  why 
a  principle  so  plain  and  just  should  not  be  applied  universally  to  all  species  of 
property.” 

From  which  it  appears  that  the  county  auditors  and  the  State  Board  of 
Equalization  are  by  no  means  confined  to  the  bric-a-brac  value  of  the  separate 
items  going  to  make  up  a  railroad,  but  in  the  conscientious  performance  of  their 
duty  should  consider  earning  capacity  and  every  other  sort  of  evidence  which 
will  enable  them  faithfully  to  enforce  the  constitutional  and  statutory  provision 
for  a  uniform  distribution  of  the  tax  burdens  of  the  state  upon  all  the  property 
therein  found,  at  its  “true  value  in  money.” 

It  may  be  urged  that  taxation  at  the  selling  price  of  the  entire  property  would 
be  a  taxation  of  its  franchises  or  good  will  and  that  “franchises”  are  not  taxable 
in  Ohio.  The  franchise  to  be  a  body  corporate  is  not  taxable,  but  the  value  which 
property  derives  from  its  use,  from  being  in  a  certain  place  at  a  certain  time, 
from  its  relation  to  other  property,  is  in  reality  its  entire  value  and  no  sound 
distinction  can  be  made  between  the  physical  property  and  its  time  and  place  and 
use  elements. 

Many  cases  arise  in  which  the  value  of  property  is  difficult  of  determination 
by  mere  inspection  and  estimate;  the  constituent  elements  of  a  railroad  are  not 
in  the  market ;  but  the  railroad  as  a  whole  is  in  the  market  and  has  a  readily 
ascertainable  real  value  in  money.  Its  debts,  represented  by  bonds  and  floating 
indebtedness,  together  with  the  market  value  of  its  stocks,  represent  accurately 
the  exact  price  necessary  to  buy  a  minority  holding,  which  always  costs  less  than 
a  controlling  interest.  Taking  the  market  value  of  minority  shares  protects  the 
property  from  over-valuation  due  to  competition  for  control,  or  from  other  market 
disturbance. 

In  very  many  states  exactly  this  method  of  valuation  is  followed.  In  Illi¬ 
nois,  when  a  Board  of  Equalization,  without  express  statutory  authority,  adopted 
this  rule,  its  correctness  and  justice  was  sustained  in  the  highest  state  courts 
and  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

State  Railroad  Tax  Cases,  92  U.  S.  598. 

FOURTEEN  TYPICAL  RAILROADS. 

A  few  roads,  representing  6  per  cent  of  the  mileage  and  3  per  cent  of  the 
total  assessment,  report  very  small  or  no  net  earnings  and  have  no  quotations 

on  their  securities. 

Another  group  of  roads,  with  34  per  cent  of  the  mileage  and  25  per  cent 
of  the  assessment,  report  liberal  net  earnings,  but  their  securities  are  not  suffi- 


ciently  quoted  to  justify  their  use  as  a  fair  measure  of  the  value  of  the  roads 
to  which  they  belong. 

A  third  group,  however,  of  14  railroad  systems,  covering  60  per  cent  of  the 
mileage,  66  per  cent  of  the  net  earnings  and  72  per  cent  of  the  assessment,  are 
so  fully  quoted  in  the  stock  market  as  to  make  those  quotations  for  April,  1903, 
which  were  in  most  cases  the  lowest  for  the  12  months  preceding  the  May  as¬ 
sessment,  fairly  representative  of  the  “true  value  in  money’'  of  these  roads.  In 
no  case  were  exceptionally  high  quotations  considered.  But  just  as  the  market 
value  of  horses  is  fixed  by  the  prices  obtained  for  the  comparatively  small  pro¬ 
portion  of  horses  that  are  yearly  sold,  so  railroad  stocks  and  bonds  are  fixed  in 
price  by  the  prices  secured  in  such  sales  as  do  occur.  Of  nearly  every  class  of 
security  of  these  14  systems  there  have  been  frequent  sales  during  the  past  year. 

There  is  evidence  that  the  real  value  of  some  of  the  Ohio  roads  is  con¬ 
siderably  higher  than  is  reflected  directly  in  the  value  of  their  securities.  Part 
of  the.  value  appears  in  the  value  of  the  securities  of  eastern  roads  that  hold  a 
majority  of  the  stock,  and  in  order  to  turn  freight  in  their  direction  or  for  other 
reasons  divert  a  considerable  portion  of  the  net  income  of  the  Ohio  roads  into 
permanent  betterments  or  the  purchase  of  additional  properties.  Many  other 
roads  not  so  owned  do  not  pay  out  in  dividends  their  entire  earnings,  but  with¬ 
hold  a  considerable  portion  of  such  earnings  in  surplus  or  apply  it  to  perma¬ 
nent  betterments ;  all  of  which  facts  undoubtedly  influence  the  market  price  of 
the  securities  and  tend  to  make  them  somewhat  lower  than  if  the  moneys  actually 
earned  were  declared  in  dividends.  For  instance : 

The  Cleveland  &  Pittsburg  Railroad  is  leased  to  the  Pennsylvania  Co.  for 
999  years  for  a  rental  of  7  per  cent  on  its  stock,  interest  on  its  bonds  and  organ¬ 
ization  expenses.  These  payments  by  the  lessor  company  (Pennsylvania  Com¬ 
pany)  to  the  lessee  company  (C.  &  P.)  for  the  year  ending  December  31,  1902, 
amounted  to  $1,184,737.34;  but  the  Pennsylvania  Company  in  operating  the 
C.  &  P.  had  made  net  earnings  sufficient  to  pay  this  rental  and  leave  a  surplus 
of  $1,507,880.46,  which  increased  the  value  of  the  Pennsylvania  Co.,  but  had  little 
effect  upon  the  value  of  the  securities  of  the  C.  &  P.  in  the  market.  Hence, 
the  quotations  of  185  1-4  used  in  the  following  calculations  on  its  stock  do 
not  fully  represent  the  earnings  or  the  value  of  the  road. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis,  which 
for  the  year  ending  December  31,  1902,  had  a  net  income,  after  paying  all  rentals, 
interest,  etc.,  of  $3,021,983.64.  After  paying  a  dividend  of  3  per  cent  on  its  com¬ 
mon  and  4  per  cent  on  its  preferred  stock,  amounting  to  $1,651,222.50,  there  was 
still  left  out  of  its  net  income  a  surplus  of  $1,370,761.14,  which  was  set  aside 
and  used  for  extra  expenditures  in  improving  its  property,  revising  grades,  etc., 
and  in  contributions  to  its  sinking  funds.  After  making  all  these  liberal  allow¬ 
ances  this  year  and  other  years  for  capital  expenditures  out  of  its  earnings,  it 
still  has  an  accumulated  surplus  in  the  profit  and  loss  account  of  $3,696,512.55 
because  of  the  low  dividends.  However,  the  common  stock  sold  for  only  77  3-4, 
and  the  preferred  for  only  100. 

Concerning  the  Zanesville  &  Western,  we  have  very  recent  information  as 
to  its  value.  This  railroad  was  formerly  a  part  of  the  Columbus,  Sandusky  & 
H'ocking,  and  was  bought  in  the  fall  of  1902  by  the  Hocking  Valley,  and  in 
part  payment  (perhaps  total)  therefor,  the  latter  issued  $1,000,000  of  its  pre¬ 
ferred  stock,  which  sells  for  97  7-8,  and  $587,400  of  its  common  stock,  selling 
at  102.  This  payment,  therefore,  would  amount  to  $1,568,718.  This  road  was 
assessed  by  the  auditors  at  $406,943.00. 

It  will  be  observed  that  while  on  the  average  these  14  systems  are  assessed 
at  22.66  per  cent  of  their  market  value,  the  ratio  varies  from  the  lowest,  which 
is  part  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  system,  viz.,  the  Cleveland,  Lorain  &  Wheeling, 
which  is  assessed  at  only  12.71  per  cent  of  its  value,  to  that  branch  of  the  Penn¬ 
sylvania  system,  the  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis,  which  is 
assessed  at  34.19  per  cent  of  its  value.  The  common  explanation  given  by  the 
auditors  for  the  high  relative  assessment  of  this  road  is  that  it  alone  of  all  the 
roads  gives  no  passes.  The  Pennsylvania  Company,  it  should  be  stated,  however, 
makes  much  higher  returns  of  the  value  of  its  rolling  stock  than  do  the  other 
roads. 


(See  Table  on  Pages  10  and  11.) 


THE  VALUE  OF  THE  OTHER  ROADS. 

In  the  case  of  the  14  large  roads  whose  securities  have  been  carefully  studied, 
the  net  earnings  before  paying  taxes  were  5.24  per  cent,  of  the  market  value.  In 
other  words,  the  net  earnings  multiplied  by  19.08  would  give  the  market  value. 

Applying  this  ratio  to  the  roads  that  report  net  earnings,  but  whose  securi¬ 
ties  are  not  widely  quoted,  the  value  of  these  roads  is  computed  to  be  $204,793,457. 

With  respect  to  the  few  roads  which  report  very  small  or  no  net  earnings 
and  whose  assessment  is  only  3  per  cent,  of  the  total,  the  method  adopted  is  to 
assume  the  assessed  value  to  be  as  much  below  the  real  value  as  has  been  found 
true  of  the  14  roads  above  given. 

The  following  table  summarizes  the  three  classes.  By  class  I.  is  meant  those 
14  roads  whose  securities  have  been  studied.  Under  class  II.  is  included  the 
other  roads  which  report  net  earnings.  The  rest  are  included  in  class  III. : 


Class. 

Mileage. 

%  of  Mileage 

%  of 

Appraisal. 

Appraisal, 1903 

True  Value. 

60%  of  True 
Value. 

I . 

5.298.7 

60 

72 

$  92,439,297 

$407,961,596 

$244,776,957 

II . 

|  2.987.1 

34 

25 

39,242,720 

204,793,457 

122,876,072 

Ill . 

598.8 

6 

3 

3,380,957 

1 

14,910,020 

8,946,012 

8,884.6 

100  | 

1 

100 

1 

1 

i$129,062,974 

$627,665,073 

$376,599,041 

In  the  case  of  eight  very  small  roads,  having  a  total  mileage  of  only  39 
miles  and  an  assessment  in  1902  of  $690,985,  the  appraisal  of  that  year  is  used 
above  instead  of  the  one  for  1903,  because  the  assessment  of  those  roads  for  1903 
has  not  yet  (Sept.  12,  1903)  been  reported  to  the  state  auditor. 

The  average  ratio  of  assessed  to  true  value  in  the  case  of  farms,  homes  and 
small  places  of  business  is  commonly  assumed  to  be  60  per  cent.  It  is  less  in 
the  largest  cities  and  greater  in  many  country  districts. 

A  letter  was  sent  in  1901  to  each  of  the  88  county  treasurers  of  the  state, 
asking  them  what  in  their  judgment  was  the  ratio  of  the  assessed  to  the  true 
value  of  farms  in  their  respective  counties.  Of  the  51  officials  who  replied.  12. 
or  23  per  cent.,  reported  the  ratio  as  from  33  to  50  per  cent.;  11  others,  or  22  per 
cent.,  gave  the  ratio  as  50  to  59  per  cent.,  and  the  remaining  28,  or  55  per  cent,  of 
all  those  replying,  reported  the  ratio  as  from  60  to  SO  per  cent.  The  average  of 
the  entire  51  counties  reporting  was  54.1  per  cent.  The  average  in  case  of  city 
and  village  real  estate  in  these  same  counties  was  53.6  per  cent. 

It  thus  appears  that  in  the  majority  of  the  counties  heard  from,  farm  proper¬ 
ties  are  supposed  by  the  County  Treasurers  to  be  assessed  at  60  per  cent., 
or  over,  of  their  true  value,  while  47  per  cent,  of  the  county  treasurers 
reported  the  same  with  respect  to  city  and  village  real  estate.  The  one- 
fourth  of  the.  counties  reporting  assessments  of  less  than  50  per  cent,  on 
farm  properties  and  the  26  per  cent,  of  the  counties  reporting  assessments 
of  less  than  50  per  cent,  of  the  true  value  in  the  case  of  city  and  village 
real  estate  gave  no  figures  lower  than  33  per  cent.  If  the  railroads,  then,  were 
assessed  no  higher  in  proportion  to  their  true  value  than  the  very  lowest  returns 
of  any  of  the  51  counties  reporting,  the  roads  would  be  assessed  60  per  cent.,  or 
$78,000,000,  more  than  at  present. 

UNDER  ASSESSMENT  EVEN  OF  PHYSICAL 
PROPERTY. 

Not  only  have  our  railroads  thus  far  escaped  all  assessment  on  the  large 
excess  in  the  value  of  their  roads,  as  a  whole,  above  the  value  of  their  mere 
physical  property,  but  even  their  cars,  locomotives,  track,  etc.,  have  in  most  cases 
been  assessed  at  much  less  than  half  their  value.  Some  examples  follow.  In  the 
printed  annual  reports  of  many  of  the  roads  to  their  stockholders  for  the  year 
ending  June  30  or  December  31,  1902,  are  given  the  amounts  spent  that  year 
for  equipment  and  other  improvements. 

The  contrast  between  these  figures  and  the  returns  that  these  railroads  made 
to  the  assessors  in  April  and  May.  1903,  returns  which  in  all  cases  were  ac¬ 
cepted  by  the  assessors  as  substantially  correct,  is  startling. 

The  Cincinnati,  Hamilton  &  Dayton  describes  on  page  7  of  its  report  the  fol- 


lowing  additions  to  its  passenger  equipment:  Two  parlor  cars,  one  combination 
coach  and  parlor,  two  coaches,  two  postal  and  one  60-foot  baggage  car,  the  ag¬ 
gregate  cost  being  $63,912.  The  HIGHEST  valuations  at  which  this  road  re¬ 
turns  such  equipment  to  the  assessors  is:  Parlor  cars  at  $1,500.00;  combination 
cars  at  $600,00 ;  coaches;  $1,000.00;  postal  cars,  $1,500.00;  baggage  cars,  $400.00; 
which  would  make  at  these  rates  the  total  return  for  the  above  equipment  pur¬ 
chased  $9,000,  as  against  its  cost  of  $63,912.  The  road  acquired  new  freight  cars 
as  follows:  250  box  cars,  25  side  dump  coal  cars,  11  flat  cars,  at  a  total  cost 
of  $167,108.  The  highest  prices  at  which  this  kind  of  equipment  is  returned  is: 
Box  cars  $150,  coal  cars  $100  and  flat  cars  $80,  which  would  make  the  above 
equipment  worth  only  $40,880.  The  road  also  bought  five  new  freight  loco¬ 
motives  and  two  switch  engines  and  sold  or  scrapped  an  equal  number  of  old 
“light  engines”  and  charged  the  difference  $84,448  to  new  equipment,  which 
would  make  an  average  cost  for  locomotives  of  $12,064  each,  plus  the  value 
of  the  old  light  engines  sold.  Yet  the  road  returns  its  best  freight  locomotives 
at  $2,500  each  and  its  poorest  at  $1,000,  and  its  best  switching  locomotives 
at  $2,000  each  and  its  poorest  at  $800  each.  This  would  make  the  return  for 
all  the  foregoing  new  locomotives  $16,500  even  on  the  basis  of  the  highest 
values  admitted  by  the  company,  as  against  $84,448  actually  paid,  plus  the 
value  of  the  old  engines. 

The  same  report  shows  that  the  Indiana,  Decatur  &  Western  (which  is  a 
part  of  the  C.,  H.  &  D.  system  and  is  a  consolidation  under  the  name  of  the  Cin¬ 
cinnati,  Indianapolis  &  Western  of  the  above  road  and  its  Ohio  branch,  the  Cin¬ 
cinnati,  Hamilton  Indianapolis)  bought  500  box  cars,  for  which  it  paid  cash 
$68,697  and  gave  4  per  cent,  notes  for  $'244,000.  This  would  make  the  average 
cost  $625.  This  railroad  returns  all  of  its  box  cars  at  $150  each. 

The  Hocking  Valley  road,  on  page  6  of  its  report,  states  that  it  acquired  and 
charged  to  operating  expenses  for  the  fiscal  year,  10  freight  engines,  costing  $122,- 
801.77,  or  an  average  of  $12,280  each;  5  switching  engines,  costing  $52,349.90,  an 
average  of  $10,470  each ;  75  steel  dump  cars,  costing  $57,825,  an  average  of  $771 
each;  4,520  gondola  coal  cars,  costing  $2,914,941,  an  average  of  $645  each;  and 
on  May  1st,  1902,  issued  $1,600,000  4  1-2  per  cent,  car  trust  bonds  to  provide  for 
the  purchase  of  3,020  new  coal  cars,  which  is  an  average  of  $530  each.  They  re¬ 
turn  their  highest-priced  freight  locomotives  at  $3,000  each,  their  highest-priced 
switching  locomotives  at  $3,000  each,  75  steel  dump  cars  (evidently  the  same 
purchased. above)  at  $200  each,  their  gondola  cars  at  $120  each,  and  the  highest- 
priced  coal  cars  of  any  kind  at  $120  each. 

The  Kanawha  &  Michigan,  on  page  3  of  its  report  states  that  during  the 
year  it  charged  to  its  equipment  reserve  fund  $91,450  for  8  new  freight  engines, 
an  average  of  $11,431  each;  also  6  cabooses  and  2  tool  cars,  costing  $12,357.86, 
an  average  of  $1,544  each.  It  states  that  it  bought  of  the  Hocking  Valley  2,500 
gondola  coal  cars  for  $1,375,000,  an  average  of  $550  each,  but  returns  its  freight 
locomotives  at  $2,500,  cabooses  at  $150,  some  gondola  cars  at  $80  and  $115  each, 
and  2,499  gondola  cars  (evidently  the  ones  above  purchased  from  the  Hocking 
Valley)  at  $150  each,  and  only  one  tool  car,  and  that  at  only  $100 — a  great  de¬ 
preciation,  surely! 

The  Kanawha  &  Michigan  charged  during  the  year  to  its  capital  account  for 
improvements  and  betterments  $1,724,363.99  for  the  above  equipment  and  other 
betterments.  Since  38  per  cent,  of  the  mileage  of  the  road  is  in  Ohio,  38  per  cent, 
of  these  betterments,  or  $655,257  should  be  assessed  in  this  state,  but  its  entire 
assessment  in  Ohio  for  the  year  1902  was  only  $434,250,  and  in  the  year  1903 
$636,535. 

The  N.  Y.  C.  &  St.  L.,  on  page  4  of  its  report,  states  that  it  contracted  for 
15  consolidated  engines,  costing  $225,000,  which  is  an  average  of  $15,000  each. 
The  highest-priced  locomotives  it  returns  are  its  switching  engines,  and  of  these 
it  returns  15  (presumably  the  engines  above  purchased)  at  $3,302  each. 

The  Toledo  &  Ohio  Central,  on  page  4  of  its  report,  mentions  the  purchase 
of  3  new  passenger  engines  at  $37,125,  an  average  of  $12,375  each,  and  687  gondola 
coal  cars,  costing  $404,491,  an  average  of  $589  each.  It  returns  its  poorest  loco¬ 
motives  at  $1,000  and  its  best  at  only  $3,000,  and  returns  its  gondola  cars  at  $80, 
$105  and  $200. 

The  Erie  Railway,  on  page  9  of  its  report,  states  that  it  charged  $219,494, 
one-half  of  the  cost  »of  25  consolidated  locomotives  purchased  during  the  previous 
year,  to  operating  expenses.  This  would  make  them  cost  an  average  of  $17,500 
each ;  also  that  it  had  purchased  10  other  consolidated  locomotives,  and  on  this 
account  had  charged  to  operating  expenses  $160,000  during  the  year,  making  an 
average  of  $16,000  each.  It  further  reports  that  between  Dec.  1,  1895,  and  June 


30,  1902,  it  had  expended  for  204  locomotives  $2,728,085,  which  would  be  an 
average  for  all  locomotives  purchased  during  this  period  of  $13,372 ;  and  during 
the  same  period  it  purchased  25  passenger  cars,  3  baggage  and  6  horse  express 
cars  at  a  cost  of  $188,852,  an  average  of  $6,092  each,  and  had  purchased  8,500  box 
cars,  6,500  coal  cars,  300  refrigerator  cars,  184  flat  cars,  100  furniture  cars,  and  6 
milk  cars  at  a  cost  of  $10,538,078,  an  average  for  these  freight  cars  of  $675  each. 
The  Nypano  Railway,  which  is  part  of  the  Erie  system,  returns  its  locomotives 
at  from  $600  to  $3,600,  its  passenger  cars  from  $600  to  $1,200,  and  its  baggage, 
mail  and  express  cars  from  $400  to  $900;  box  cars,  $100  to  $250;  stock 
cars,  $100  to  $150;  flat  cars  at  $120;  gondola  cars  at  $100  to  $200,  and  coal  dump 
cars  at  $140  to  $300. 

The  Big  Four  Railway  reports  the  purchase  of  2,800  freight  cars  for  which 
it  paid  $222,200.71,  and  upon  which  it  states  it  still  owes  $1,372,146.56,  which 
would  make  the  total  cost  average  $606  per  car,  but  it  returns  its  gondola  and 
flat  cars  at  $100,  its  stock  cars  at  $125  and  box  cars  at  the  highest  valuation 
of  any  freight  car  returned,  $150  each. 

The  Cleveland  &  Pittsburgh,  on  page  5  of  its  report,  states  -that  during  the 
year  it  had  made  the  first  annual  payment  of  $56,883.50,  being  1-10  of  the  entire 
cost,  for  the  purchase  of  525  steel  gondola  cars,  which  would  make  an  average 
of  $1,083.50  each,  but  it  returns  all  of  its  coal  gondola  cars  at  $260  each. 

Some  of  the  railroad  companies  in  their  reports  likewise  print  their  in¬ 
ventories,  which  give  the  valuation  for  the  equipment  owned  by  them  at  what 
it  is  carried  on  their  books  at  the  present  time,  after  making  liberal  allowances 
for  depreciation,  etc.  These  inventories  are  usually  from  2%  to  3  times  the 
value  returned  by  the  roads  to  the  assessors  and  accepted  by  them.  For  ex¬ 
ample,  the  B.  &  O.  Chicago  Division  returns  its  locomotives  at  an  average 
valuation  of  $2,004  each,  as  against  an  inventory  valuation  of  $6,128  each. 
It  returns  its  passenger  equipment  at  an  average  valuation  of  $1,090  each, 
as  against  an  inventory  valuation  of  $2,411  each,  and  its  freight  car  equip¬ 
ment  at  an  average  valuation  of  $136  each,  as  against  an  inventory  valuation 
of  $430  each. 


MICHIGAN  AND  INDIANA. 

That  the  assessment  of  the  Ohio  roads  is  not  half  the  present  value  of  even 
their  physical  property,  such  as  their  rails,  land,  rolling  stock  and  buildings,  is 
further  proven  by  the  evidence  from  Michigan.  The  most  thorough,  scientific 
and  judicial  study  ever  undertaken  in  this  country  of  the  present  day  cost  of  con¬ 
struction  and  of  the  depreciation  thereon  of  all  the  railroads  of  a  state  was  made 
of  the  7,813  miles  of  line  in  Michigan,  by  its  state  tax  commission  in  1900  and 
1901.  Every  foot  of  road,  every  car,  locomotive,  building  and  machine  shop 
was  personally  inspected  by  competent  engineers  at  large  expense. 

Deducting  the  value  of  steamships  and  ferries,  and  making  full  allow¬ 
ance  for  depreciation,  this  commission,  under  the  guidance  of  the  famous  Prof. 
M.  E.  Cooley,  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  found  the  present  physical  value  of 
the  Michigan  roads  to  be  $21,345  per  mile.  Compare  this  with  the  assessed  value 
of  $14,527  for  not  only  the  physical  property  but  for  the  entire  monopoly  and 
franchise  value  of  the  Ohio  roads  that  are  worth  as  a  whole  $70,000  per  mile. 

The  Michigan  roads  had  only  39.3  miles  of  second  track  and  sidings  per  100 
miles  of  main  line  at  the  time  of  the  valuation,  while  Ohio  now  has  60.7  miles. 
The  equipment  of  the  Michigan  roads  and  their  roadbed  must  have  been  far 
less  per  mile  than  here,  for  the  business  of  the  Michigan  roads  as  measured  by 
gross  earnings,  was  not  1-3  as  great  per  mile  as  of  the  Ohio  roads,  and  the  net 
earnings  were  only  1-5  as  much  per  mile  in  the  northern  state  as  here.  Michi¬ 
gan  had  only  one  city  of  over  100,000  population,  Detroit  with  285,704  in¬ 
habitants  in  1900.  Ohio  had  four  with  an  aggregate  population  of  965,052,  and 
thus  had  far  more  valuable  terminals.  Yet  the  actual  physical  assets  of  the 
Michigan  roads,  as  shown  above,  werefound  to  be  50  per  cent,  more  in  1901 
than  the  entire  Ohio  assessment.  Where  a  road  crosses  the  Michigan  boun¬ 
dary  line  the  assessment  per  mile  in  Ohio  in  every  case  is  only  1-2  to  1-3  as 
much  as  even  the  structural  value  has  been  found  to  be  in  Michigan. 

The  railroads  of  Indiana  are  much  less  valuable  per  mile  of  main  line  and 
branches  than  in  Ohio.  The  earnings  of  the  Indiana  roads  are  not  reported,  but 
they  have  only  43.1  miles  of  second  track  and  sidings  for  every  100  miles  of  line, 
while  in  Ohio  there  are  60.7  miles.  Furthermore,  the  five  largest  cities  of  In¬ 
diana  had  a  population  in  1900  of  only  345,960,  or  only  1-3  of  the'  1 ,050,435  in 
Ohio’s  five  largest  cities.  Hence  the  value  of  rights  of  way  and  terminals  must 


TABLE 

^RELATION  OF  ASSESSED  TO  TRUE  VALU 

RELATION  OF  TRUE  V 


NAME. 


Cincinnati,  Hamilton  &  Dayton : 

Dayton  &  Michigan  . 

Columbus,  Findlay  &  Northern  . 

Bowling  Green  . 

Piqua  &  Troy  Branch  . 

Cincinnati  &  Dayton . 

Home  Ave . 

Cincinnati,  Indianapolis  &  Western  . ; . 

Hamilton  Belt  . *  . * . 

Cleveland,  Akron  &  Columbus  . . 

Big  Four— Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis: 

Cincinnati,  Sandusky  &  Cleveland . 

Cincinnati  &  Springfield  ....... . . . 

Columbus,  Springfield  &  Cincinnati  . 

Mt.  Gilead  Short  Line . 

Findlay  Belt . . 

Peoria  &  Eastern . 

Harrison  Branch . . 

Cleveland,  Lorain  &  Wheeling  . . 

Cleveland  &  Pittsburg . . 

Detroit  Southern . 

Hocking  Valley : 

Zanesville  &  Western . 

Wellston  &  Jackson  Belt  . 

Toledo  &  Ohio  Central  . . 

Toledo  &  Ohio  Central,  St.  Mary’s  Branch . 

Kanawha  &  Michigan  . 

Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern: 

Mahoning  Coal . 

Lake  Erie  &  Western: 

Northern  Ohio  . 

New  York,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis . . 

Pittsburg,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis: 

Little  Miami . 

Front  Street  Connecting  . 

Pittsburg,  Ft.  Wayne  &  Chicago: 

Massillon  &  Cleveland  . 

Toledo,  St.  Louis  &  Western  . . 

Wheeling  &  Lake  Erie: 

Toledo  Belt . 


Totals 


This  table  covers  60  per  cent,  of  the  total  R.  R.  mileage  and  72  per  cent  ot  the  to 


aPPThSeeappra“?ednvlhJee  for‘l902  has  been  used  on  the  Harrison |  Branch,  28,436, 
Fron?  St.  Connecting,  49,005,  the  1903  appraisal  being  not  yet  obtainable. 


•The  calculations  ot  true  value  in  this  pamphlet  were  based  upon  April  Quotatk 
MhV^.  ‘  VM?  “  Railroad  capl 


I  o .  [ 


OF  FOURTEEN  OHIO  RAILROAD  SYSTEMS 

D 

JE  TO  NET  EARNINGS. 


Miles  in  Ohio 
of 

Main  Line 
and 

Branches. 

J _ 

Per  Cent 
of  Ohio 
to  Total 
Mileage 

Value  Appraised 
_  by 

County  Auditors 
for  1903. 

Market  Values 
of 

Securities. 

Per  Cenl 
of 

Appras’d 

to 

Market 

Value. 

j  N  et  Earnings 
from 

Operation, 
Year  Ending 
June  30, 
1902. 

PerCent 
of  Net 
Earn’gs 
to 

Market 

Value. 

| 

j  523.914 

87.35 

1 

$  5,758,238 

$  33,095,362 

17.40 

$  2,028,757 

6.13 

J 

>1  177.46 

100. 

1,630,646 

5,736,180 

28.43 

375,212 

6.54 

Y  663.342 

30.91 

8,595,051 

35,141,765 

24.46 

1,873,375 

5.33 

J 

191.11 
193.78 
^  297.51 

100. 

92.56 

77.71 

1 

2,375,812  | 
6,258,478  | 
1,724,116  | 

I 

18,693,000  | 
28,954,002  | 
7,859,019  | 

12.71 

21.62 

21.94 

1,184,717 

2,069,940 

189,960 

I  6.33 
7.15 
2.42 

r  891.86 

j 

|  449.52  | 

90.23 

1 

11,363,538  | 

! 

54,062,994  | 

21.02 

3,138,717 

5.80 

30.18  j 

1 

1 

14,785,768  1 
| 

65,333,923  | 

22.63  | 

2,860,292 

4.38 

j  307.638  | 

35.29  | 

1,706,143  | 

7,851.518  ! 

21.73  1 

295,325 

3.76 

239.49  | 

49.14  | 

3,383,675  1 
| 

18,775,118  | 

18.02 

804,100 

4.29 

\  546.70  | 

40.56  | 

16,056,125  1 
| 

46,961,765  | 

34.19 

2,820,507 

6.01 

f  263.905  | 

54.77  | 

12,697.028  | 

| 

53.330,475  | 

23.81 

2,610,673 

4.90 

100.03  | 

) 

22.19  | 

822,856  | 

| 

4,294,321  | 

19.16 

1 

162,066 

3.77 

5  452.446  | 

100.  | 

5,281,823  | 

27,872,154  | 

18.95  j 

943,219 

3.38 

1 

5,298.705  | 

1 

1 

$92,439,297  |  $407,961,596  | 

1  1 

22.66  | 

1 

$21,356,860  | 

! 

5.24 

i0„t^±0nds+<thant0  th?  stocks,  and  the  decline  has  chiefly  taken  place  in  the 

teen^eadhi^  ^STr^°n<'ShOWS/ittat^tt?  d^cIine  in  the  aggregate  value  of  the  four- 
4 °5n  roa?s  (covered  by  table  1)  from  April  to  September.  1903,  has  been  only 
of  aSeLSSiint  A1I„taxi?1f  .laws  contemplate  the  assessment  of  the  true  value  at  the  date 
assS^mpJ^  in^Vn1ue  ther®after  if  it  continues  until  the  time  of  the  next 

hf Sfh a t° a s se s^n en t 6 F  thlS  fal1  bG  ln  llVe  stock’  real  estate  or  railroads,  will  be  reflected 


be  far  greater  in  Ohio,  as  these  increase  rapidly  with  the  size  of  cities.  Yet 
the  6,349.65  miles  of  line  in  Indiana  were  assessed  in  1902,  the  latest  year  for 
which  returns  are  at  hand,  for  $162,797,798,  or  $24,475  per  mile,  while  the  8,884.6 
miles  in  Ohio  are  only  assessed  for  $129,062,974,  or  $14,527  per  mile.  Even  the 
Indiana  assessment  is  not  half  the  value  of  the  roads. 

Thanks  to  the  recent  increase  of  the  excise  tax  in  Ohio  and  the  low  rate  of 
tax  on  assessments  in  Indiana,  the  total  taxes  paid  per  mile  of  road  in  1903 
will  be  about  the  same  in  the  two  states,  but  for  the  reasons  given  above  should 
be  much  higher  in  Ohio.  The  somewhat  lower  tax  rate  of  Indiana  is  no  defense 
for  the  ridiculously  low  assessments  in  Ohio,  so  much  below  those  on  farms 
and  homes.  The  constitutions  and  laws  of  both  states  equally  require  that  the 
assessment  shall  be  the  true  value  in  money  of  the  roads,  and  no  one  claims  that 
this  value  is  anywhere  near  approached  even  by  the  Indiana  assessment. 

In  the  following  diagram  the  length  of  each  odd  line  represents  the  assess¬ 
ment  per  mile  of  the  road  named  in  Ohio  in  1903,  and  the  length  of  the  even 
line  below  it  represents  the  relatively  larger  assessment  of  the  same  road  just 
across  the  boundary  in  Indiana : 

ASSESSMENT  PER  MI  LE. 

OHIO  AND  INDIANA. 

Ohio . $15,296  B.  &  O.  Chicago  Division. 


Indiana .  27,325 


Ohio . 12,731  B.  &  O.  Southwestern. 

Indiana .  27,917 

Ohio .  11,000  Chicago  &  Erie. 

Indiana .  27,369 

Ohio .  11,065  Cincinnati,  Hamilton  &  Indianapolis. 

Indiana .  29,498 

Ohio .  12,880  Big  Four. 

Indiana .  34,394 

Ohio . .  4,050  Findlay,  Ft.  Wayne  &  Western. 

Indiana .  9,085 

Ohio .  9,445  Lake  Erie  &  Western. 

Indiana .  19;513 

Ohio .  32,023  Lake  Shore. 

Indiana .  63,500 


Ohio .  14,128  New  York,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis. 

Indiana .  34,756 

Ohio .  33,961  Pitts.,  Cin.,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis. 

Indiana .  34,796 

Ohio .  50,206  Pittsburgh,  Ft.  Wayne  &  Chicago. 

Indiana .  73,076  

Ohio .  8,228  Toledo,  St.  Louis  &  Western. 

Indiana .  15,992 

Ohio .  12,022  Wabash. 

Indiana .  30,349 


It  will  be  observed  that  with  the  exception  of  the  Pennsylvania  lines,  known 
as  the  Fort  Wayne  and  P.  C.  C.  &  St.  L.,  the  assessment  in  Indiana  in  almost 
every  case  is  over  twice  as  large  as  in  Ohio,  although  these  roads  run  through 
fewer  large  cities  in  the  more  western  state  and  have  fewer  miles  of  second 
and  side  track  per  100  miles  of  main  line  than  in  Ohio.  Since  the  average  In¬ 
diana  railroad  tax  rate  on  the  assessment  is  59  per  cent,  as  high  as  in  Ohio,  even 
after  including  our  state  excise  tax,  most  of  these  roads  pay  a  much  larger  tax 
per  mile  and  in  proportion  to  gross  or  net  earnings  in  Indiana  than  in  Ohio. 

LESSONS  FROM  MASSACHUSETTS,  CONNECTI¬ 
CUT  AND  MICHIGAN. 

In  Massachusetts  the  railroads  are  taxed  an  amount  equal  in  1902  to 
5.82  per  cent,  of  their  gross  income  and  19.51  per  cent,  of  their  net  income, 
while  the  Ohio  roads,  even  with  the  new  excise  tax,  will  only  pay  this  year  about 
3.6  per  cent,  of  their  gross  receipts  and  11.2  per  cent,  of  their  net.  In  Massa¬ 
chusetts  the  state  tax  commissioner,  appointed  by  the  governor,  determines 
the  market  value  on  May  1st  of  all  the  stocks  (but  unfortunately  not  the 
bonds)  of  all  the  roads,  deducts  therefrom  the  local  assessment  on  machine 
shops,  buildings  and  real  estate  other  than  roadbed,  and  to  the  large  re¬ 
mainder  applies  the  average  tax  rate  of  all  taxing  bodies.  This  is  determined 
by  dividing  the  total  assessment  of  all  property  by  the  total  taxes  raised 
thereon  by  direct  tax.  This  law,  so  far  as  relates  to  the  features  just  de¬ 
scribed,  is  vastly  better  than  the  Ohio  method,  but,  as  intimated,  fails  woe¬ 
fully  in  neglecting  to  include  the  bonded  capital. 

Connecticut  in  this  respect  is  better,  because  of  the  requirements  of  the  full 
assessment  by  a  state  board  of  all  the  securities,  stocks,  bonds  and  floating  debts 
of  a  road  at  their  market  value,  but  is  inferior  to  the  Massachusetts  law  in  that 
the  tax  is  fixed  at  only  one  per  cent,  of  this  value  or  only  about  2-3  of  the  usual 
Massachusetts  rate. 

The  new  Michigan  tax  law  of  1901  requires  the  state  board  of  tax  commis¬ 
sioners  to  arrive  at  the  cash  value  of  the  railroads  and  to  assess  them  at  the 
average  rate  of  all  other  property.  Accordingly,  early  in  1903  this  board,  after 
a  careful  study  of  the  physical  values  and  a  very  low  appraisal  of  the  intangible 
values,  assessed  the  roads  at  $198,641,000  and  imposed  taxes  thereon  of  1.3689 
per  cent.,  or  $2,719,206.59.  This  is  nearly  double  the  taxes  of  1902,  and  amounts 
to  6.37  per  cent,  of  the  gross  income  and  30.59  per  cent,  of  the  net  income  of 
1902.  The  Ohio  roads,  even  with  the  new  excise  tax,  will  pay  in  1903  less  than 


60  per  cent,  as  large  a  percentage  of  their  gross  revenue  and  less  than  40  per 
cent,  as  large  a  proportion  of  their  net  revenue. 

THE  WAY  OUT. 

The  experience  of  the  past  two  years  has  conclusively  proved  that  the  county 
auditors  and  the  state  board  will  not  obey  the  constitution.  By  the  evidence  of 
eye  witnesses,  and  by  their  own  confession,  it  appears  that  these  auditors  not 
only  ride  all  the  year  on  the  passes  of  the  roads  they  assess,  but  are  given 
excursions  to  distant  places  outside  of  the  state  at  the  expense  of  these  roads. 
Even  when  assembled  for  the  annual  assessment  of  the  roads,  these  auditors  are 
often  entertained  throughout  the  day  and  night  at  the  expense  of  the  very  roads 
they  have  come  to  assess.  To  nominate  and  elect  88  auditors  of  the  right  stamp 
and  to  keep  them  up  to  their  duty  after  election  in  the  face  of  such  enormous 
influence  is  out  of  the  question.  It  is  necessary  to  follow  the  example  of  the 
increasing  number  of  states  that  are  placing  the  entire  assessment  of  railroads,, 
as  Ohio  has  of  express,  telegraph  and  telephone  companies,  in  the  hands  of  a  state 
authority.  The  law  should  be  more  explicit  than  now  in  prescribing  how  the 
constitutional  provision  of  “true  money  value”  shall  be  obeyed.  Full  regard 
should  be  paid  to  the  average  market  value  of  the  securities  for  the  twelve  months 
preceding  the  assessment  and  to  the  gross  and  net  earnings,  to  the  physical  prop¬ 
erty  and  to  any  other  elements  that  enter  into  the  value  of  a  road. 

In  order  to  concentrate  responsibility,  the  assessment  should  be  in  the  hands 
of  a  single  official  appointed,  as  in  Massachusetts,  by  the  governor,  and  empowered 
to  employ  necessary  assistants.  All  the  states  that  have  made  much  progress 
in  the  imposition  of  proper  taxes  upon  railroads,  such  as  Massachusetts,  Con¬ 
necticut,  Michigan,  Indiana  and  Wisconsin,  have  moved  in  the  direction  of  the 
concentration  of  the  assessment  and  taxation  of  railroads  in  a  central  state 
authority.  Of  course,  this  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  subsequent  distribution 
of  the  assessment,  or  taxes  raised,  among  the  counties  and  their  subdivisions  in 
accordance  with  mileage  as  now  in  Ohio.  But  along  this  line  of  state  assessment 
we  must  work,  if  any  great  improvement  in  railroad  taxation  is  to  be  secured. 

SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  FOLLOWING  THREE  IM¬ 
PORTANT  TABLES. 

Table  II  shows  by  what  amount  the  assessed  value1  of  each  railroad  must 
be  multiplied  to  get  even  60  per  cent,  of  the  true  value  of  the  road.  It  will  be 
observed  that  the  assessment  in  most  cases  must  be  multiplied  by  2  or  3  or  4 
and  a  decimal  to  get  the  true  value,  although  in  some  cases  even  a  larger  multi¬ 
plier  is  necessary,  and  in  a  very  few  cases  a  smaller  one. 

Table  III  shows  what  each  county  now  loses  in  taxes  as  compared  with  what 
it  would  receive  if  the  roads  were  assessed  at  60  per  cent,  of  their  true  value. 
The  average  loss  in  each  of  the  88  counties  is  over  $50,000,  but  varies  from  $1,400 
in  Monroe  county  to  $312,069  in  Cuyahoga  county. 

Table  IV  is  equally  significant  and  should  interest  every  taxpayer.  It  shows 
the  percentage  by  which  every  person’s  taxes  would  be  reduced  if  the  railroads 
of  his  county  paid  taxes  on  an  assessment  of  60  per  cent,  of  their  true  value. 
This  table  shows  that  the  taxpayer  in  many  of  the  rural  counties  would  gain  far 
more  in  the  percentage  of  reduction  of  his  own  taxes  than  in  the  richer 
counties  where  the  railroads  are  a  smaller  proportion  of  the  entire  value  of  all 
property.  The  taxpayer  would  find  his  taxes  reduced  by  64  per  cent.,  or  nearly 
two-thirds,  in  Vinton  county,  39  per  cent,  in  Ottawa  county,  33  per  cent,  in 
Athens,  29  per  cent,  in  Ashtabula  and  Trumbull  counties,  28  in  Hocking,  Portage 
and  Van  Wert  counties,  27  in  Jackson,  24  in  Huron,  almost  23  in  Harrison,  21 
in  Erie,  Fulton  and  Wayne,  20  in  Crawford,  Pike  and  Putnam,  19  in  Henry  and 
Paulding,  18  in  Ross  and  Williams,  17  in  Allen,  Harrison,  Lake.  Medina.  Tus¬ 
carawas  and  Wyandot,  16  in  Richland  and  Wood,  15  in  Belmont,  Lorain,  Marion, 
Perry,  Sandusky,  Scioto  and  Seneca,  14  in  Columbiana,  Defiance,  Guernsey, 
Licking  and  Mahoning  and  smaller  percentages  in  the  other  counties. 

In  only  21  of  the  88  counties  would  the  taxpayer  gain  less  than  8  per  cent. 
The  average  rate  of  gain  in  all  the  counties,  which  can  be  found  by  dividing  the 
sum  of  the  rates  by  88,  equals  14.2  per  cent.  If,  however,  the  total  gain  of 
$4,484,416  to  the  individual  taxpayers  by  the  assessment  of  the  railroads  at  60 
per  cent,  of  their  true  value  be  equally  distributed  over  all  the  taxes  levied  in 
1902  for  all  purposes— state,  county  and  local— except  special  taxes,  the  average 
reduction  in  taxes  on  other  property  would  be  10.23  per  cent. 


TABLE  II. 


Table  showing  the  multiplier  which  must  be  used  to  bring  the  assessed  value 
of  each  railroad  up  to  60  per  cent,  of  its  true  value : 


Name  of  Railroad. 


Multiplier. 


Akron  &  Barberton  Belt . 

Addyston  &  Ohio  River . 

Ann  Arbor  . 

Ashland  &  Wooster . 

Baltimore  &  Ohio — Akron  Division . 

Central  Ohio  Division. 

Chicago  Division  . 

Midland  Division  .... 
Lake  Erie  Division  . . . 
Southwestern  Division 
Straitsville  Division  .  . 
St.  Clairsville  Division 
Eastern  Ohio  Branch. . 
Parkersburg  Branch  .  . 

Bay  Terminal  . 

Bessemer  &  Lake  Erie . 

Bowling  Green  . 

Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis. 

Cincinnati,  Sandusky  &  Cleveland . 

Cincinnati  &  Springfield . . 

Columbus,  Springfield  &  Cincinnati  . 

Central  Union  Depot  &  Railway  Co . 

Chicago  &  Erie  . 

Cincinnati 
Cincinnat 
Cincinnat 
Cincinnat 
Cincinnat 
Cincinnat 
Cincinnat 
Cincinnat 
Cincinnat 
Cincinnat 
Cincinnat 
Cleveland 
Cleveland 


&  Dayton  . 

Hamilton  &  Dayton . 

Indianapolis  &  Western . 

Georgetown  &  Portsmouth.  . .  . 

&  Muskingum  Valley . 

Lebanon  &  Northern . 

Northern  . 

,  New  Orleans  &  Texas  Pacific. 

&  Northwestern . 

&  Milford  . 

&  Westwood . 

Akron  &  Columbus  . 

Lorain  &  Wheeling . 

Cleveland  &  Mahoning  Valley . 

Cleveland  &  Marietta . 

Cleveland  &  Pittsburg  . 

Cleveland,  Terminal  &  Valley . 

Cleveland,  Wooster  &  Muskingum  Valley 

Columbus  &  Southern . 

Columbus,  Findlay  &  Northern  . 

Columbus  &  Lake  Michigan . 

Columbus  &  Maysville  . 

Dayton,  Lebanon  &  Cincinnati  . 

Dayton  &  Michigan . 

Dayton  Union  . . 

Dayton  &  Union . 

Detroit  Southern  . . 

Detroit,  Toledo  &  Milwaukee . 

Detroit  &  Toledo  Shore  Line  . 

Findlay  Belt . 

Findlay,  Ft.  Wayne  &  Western  . 

Hamilton  Belt  . 

Harrison  Branch  . 


2.65 

2.65 

.89 

3.34 

4.43 

4.43 

4.43 

4.43 

4.43 

4.43 

4.43 

4.43 

4.43 

4.43 

10.63 

2.65 

3.45 

2.45 
2.45 
2.45 

2.45 
2.65 
3.86 

3.45 
3.45 
3.45 
5.29 
1.23 
2.28 
2.65 
2.65 
2.65 
2.65 

2.65 

2.11 

4.72 

3.66 
1.82 

2.78 

6.66 
4.43 
2.65 
3.45 
2.65 
1.63 
2.65 

3.45 
2.65 

1.79 

2.73 
2.65 
2.65 

2.45 
2.65 

3.45 

2.45 


Name  oe 


Railroad. 


Multiplier. 


Home  Ave . 

Hocking  Valley . 

Iron  . 

Ivorydale  &  Mill  Creek  Valley  . . 

Kanawha  &  Michigan  . 

Lake  Erie,  Alliance  &  Wheeling . 

Lakeside  &  Marblehead  . 

Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern . 

Lake  Erie  &  Western . . r 

Mahoning  Coal . 

Manufacturers  . . , . 

Mahoning  State  Line  . 

Marietta,  Columbus  &  Cleveland . 

Massillon  &  Cleveland  . 

Mt.  Gilead  Short  Line . 

Norfolk  &  Western  . 

Norfolk  &  Western — Cincinnati  Branch  . 

Northern  Ohio . 

New  York,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis . . : 

New  York,  Pennsylvania  &  Ohio  . 

Ohio  &  Little  Kanawha . 

Ohio  River  &  Western . . 

Ohio  White  Sandstone . 

Peoria  &  Eastern  . 

Pere  Marquette . . 

Piqua  &  Troy  Branch  . . . . . . . 

Pittsburgh,  Cincinnati,  Chicago  &  St.  Louis . . - 

do  Little  Miami . 

do  Front  St.  connecting . 

Pittsburgh,  Ft.  Wayne  &  Chicago  . 

Pittsburgh,  Cleveland  &  Toledo . . 

Pittsburgh  &  Lake  Erie . 

Pittsburgh,  Painesville  &  Fairport  . 

Pittsburgh,  Ohio  Valley  &  Cincinnati . I 

Pittsburgh,  Lisbon  &  Western  . 

Pittsburgh,  Youngstown  &  Ashtabula . 

Rolling  Mill  . 

Swan  Creek  . . 

St.  Clairsville  &  Northern  . 

Toledo  Belt . . . * . . 

Toledo,  Canada  Southern  &  Detroit . 

Toledo  &  Ohio  Central . 

Toledo  &  Ohio  Central — St.  Mary’s  Branch . 

Toledo  &  Southeastern . 

Toledo,  St.  Louis  &  Western  . 

Toledo  Railway  &  Terminal  . 

Toledo,  Walhonding  Valley  &  Ohio . 

Toledo,  Walhonding  Valley  &  Ohio — Sandusky  Branch . | 

Toledo,  Angola  &  Western  . I 

Trumbull  &  Mahoning  . ! 

Wabash  . j 

Wellston  &  Jackson  Belt . 

Wheeling  &  Lake  Erie  . 

Wheeling  Terminal  . 

Zanesville  &  Western . 


3.45 
2.85 
2.60 
5.36 
2.85 
2.65 

11.84 

2.65 

2.76 

2.65 

2.65 

1.82 

2.65 
2.52 

2.45 

4.45 

4.45 
2.76 
3.33 

3.66 

1.95 
4.04 
2.65 

2.45 
2.65 

3.45 
1.75 
1.75 
1.75 
2.52 

5.96 
1.82 
2.74 
2.65 
2.79 
4.21 
1.98 
2.65 
2.65 
3.17 

6.97 
2.85 
2.85 
2.65 
3.13 
2.65 

1.98 
1.98 
2.65 
2.65 

1.67 
2.85 
3.17 
2.65 
2.85 


TABLE  III 


WHAT  EACH  COUNTY  NOW  LOSES. 

Taxes  Payable  if  Amount 

COUNTIES  Taxes  for  Roads  were  assess-  which  the 


1 002 

ed  at  60% 

of  true 

Counties 

Value. 

Lose. 

1 — Adams . 

. $  2,150 

98 

$  9,571 

86 

$  7,420 

88 

2— Allen  . 

.  45,656 

03 

132,899 

89 

87,243 

86 

3 — Ashland  . 

.  15,637 

88 

47,906 

96 

32,269 

08 

4 — Ashtabula  . . 

.  62,876 

99 

193,299 

17 

130,422 

18' 

5 — Athens  . 

.  36,023 

15 

123,578 

09 

87,554 

94 

6 — Auglaize . 

.  9,448 

41 

27,928 

44 

18,480 

03 

7 — Belmont . 

.  26,463 

15 

101,147 

33 

74,684 

18 

8 — Brown . 

.  1,727 

37 

7,840 

09 

6,112 

72 

9 — Butler  . . 

.  24,699 

71 

68,922 

35 

44,222 

64 

10 — Carroll  . . 

.  8,498 

15 

25,152 

03 

16,653 

88 

11 — Champaign  . 

.  21,861 

25 

50,998 

82 

29,137 

57 

12— Clark  . 

.  19,468 

16 

49,197 

48 

29,729 

32 

13 — Clermont . 

.  5,006 

73 

17,543 

86 

12,537 

13 

14 — Clinton  . 

.  11,747 

17 

42,337 

57 

30,590 

40 

15 — Columbiana . 

.  49,180 

42 

133,910 

20 

84,729 

78 

16 — Coshocton  . 

.  29,314 

33 

59,469 

09 

30,154 

76 

17 — Crawford  .  , 

.  38,544 

66 

102,397 

07 

63,852 

41 

18 — Cuyahoga . 

.  126,625 

15 

438,695 

11 

312,069 

96 

19 — Darke  . 

.  28,414 

24 

58,611 

14 

30,196 

90 

20 — Defiance . 

.  14,391 

08 

49,467 

92 

35,076 

84 

21 — Delaware . 

.  18,732 

20 

46,810 

47 

28,078 

27 

22 — Erie  . 

.  39,553 

09 

116,690 

82 

77,137 

73 

23 — Fairfield . 

.  16,302 

70 

40,972 

00 

24,669 

30 

24 — Fayette  . 

.  8,903 

06 

25,707 

82 

16,804 

76 

25 — Franklin . 

.  57,681 

23 

148,380 

46 

90,699 

23 

26 — Fulton . 

.  30,402 

11 

76,043 

82 

45,641 

71 

27— Gallia  . 

.  11,481 

48 

33,661 

98 

22,180 

50 

28 — Geauga  . 

.  4,736 

95 

12,911 

92 

8,174 

97 

29 — Greene  . 

.  18,031 

58 

40,294 

79 

22,263 

21 

30 — Guernsey  .  . .  ; . 

.  14,348 

44 

48,566 

09 

34,217 

65 

31 — Hamilton  . 

.  101,427 

,65 

292,052 

81 

190,625 

16 

32 — Hancock . 

.  22,436 

50 

68,044 

60 

45,608 

10 

33 — Hardin  . 

.  36,571 

14 

99,975 

17  . 

63,404 

03 

34 — Harrison  . 

.  24,857 

06 

58,786 

27 

33,929 

21 

35 — Henry  . 

.  20,476 

13 

62,861 

57 

42,385 

44 

36 — Highland  . 

.  5,643 

76 

23,841 

67 

18,197 

91 

37 — Hocking  . 

.  19,226 

,71 

54,770 

70 

35,543 

99 

38 — Holmes  . 

.  11,044 

08 

26,212 

41 

15,168 

33 

39 — Huron  . 

.  37,228 

85 

119,633 

69 

82,404 

84 

40 — Jackson  . 

.  22,526 

74 

80,773 

49 

58,246 

75 

41 — Jefferson  . 

.  39,519 

79 

98,588 

58 

59,068 

79 

42 — Knox . 

.  13,263 

81 

38,490 

20 

25,226 

39 

43— Lake  . 

.  25,083 

63 

70,697 

81 

45,614 

18 

44 — Lawrence  . 

.  8,452 

84 

31,996 

51 

23,543 

67 

45 — Licking . 

.  34,650 

35 

103,435 

31 

68,784 

96 

46 — Logan . 

.  18,094 

15 

46,022 

44 

27,928 

29 

47 — Loirain  . 

.  42,320 

04 

128,437 

90 

86,117 

86 

48 — Lucas  . 

.  78,418 

32 

230,229 

78 

151,811 

46 

49 — Madison  . 

.  12.319 

',85 

25,548 

70 

13,228 

85 

50 — Mahoning  . 

.  50,734 

75 

168,185 

88 

117,451 

13 

51 — Marion  . 

.  26,866 

81 

80,725 

73 

53,858 

92 

52 — Medina  . 

.  12,224 

37 

48,422 

30 

36,197 

93 

53 — Meigs . 

.  5,478 

52 

15,613 

78 

10,135 

26 

54 — Mercer  . 

.  10,055 

73 

29,598 

33 

19,542 

60 

55 — Miami  . 

.  20,664 

36 

48,780 

09 

28,115 

73 

56 — Monroe . 

.  460 

77 

1,861 

51 

1,400 

74 

Taxes 

for 

Taxes  Payable  if 

Amount 

COUNTIES 

Roads  were  assess¬ 

■  which  the 

1902 

ed  at  60%  of  true 

Coonties 

Value. 

Lose 

57 — Montgomery . 

28,575 

38 

77,479  66 

48,904 

28 

58 — Morgan  . 

2,880 

35 

6,384  46 

3,504 

11 

59 — Morrow  . . 

9,187 

98 

24,352  63 

15,164 

65 

60 — Muskingum . 

24,205 

50 

66,637  59 

42,432 

09 

61— Noble . . 

3,230 

66 

7,167  22 

3,936 

56 

62 — Ottawa  . 

42,418 

28 

125,103  71 

82,685 

43 

63 — Paulding . 

24,300 

10 

65,515  16 

41,215 

06 

64 — Perry . 

17,081 

56 

47,850  86 

30,769 

30 

65 — Pickaway  . 

7,716 

15 

24,886  07 

17,169 

92 

66— Pike  . 

6,210 

44 

*  23,631  65 

17,421 

21 

67 — Portage  . 

30,074 

10 

108,848  97 

78,774 

87 

68— Preble  . 

14,799 

23 

27,176  43 

12,377 

20 

69 — Putnam . 

25,348 

52 

79,637  65 

54,289 

13 

70 — Richland  . 

. . .  39,010 

50 

120,224  87 

81,214 

37 

71 — Ross  . 

21,245 

77 

83,596  38 

62,350 

61 

72 — Sandusky  . 

33,344 

02 

88,826  12 

55,482 

10 

73 — Scioto  . 

12,258 

20 

54,480  91 

42,222 

71 

74 — Seneca . 

33,308 

73 

103,196  72 

69,887 

99 

75— Shelby  . 

10,344 

51 

29,785  63 

19,441 

12 

76 — Stark  . 

58,216 

72 

177,179  00 

118,962 

28 

77 — Summit . 

25,696 

76 

101,500  25 

75,803 

49 

78 — Trumbull  . 

43,689 

47 

162,673  40 

118,983 

93 

79 — Tuscarawas  . 

43,184 

61 

111,727  96 

68,543 

35 

80 — Union  . 

19,325 

10 

52,202  14 

32,877 

04 

81— Van  Wert  . 

45,621 

32 

125,881  52 

80,260 

20 

82 — V  inton  . 

14,646 

54 

52,200  08 

37,553 

54 

j83 — Warren . 

17,874 

84 

41,070  58 

23,195 

74 

84 — Washington . 

10,672 

70 

32,021  75 

21,349 

05 

85 — Wayne  . 

33,444 

89 

97,102  99 

63,658 

10 

86 — Williams  . 

30,803 

35 

72,442  68 

41,639 

33 

87— Wood  . 

44,102 

48 

138,409  80 

94,307 

32 

88— Wyandotte . 

25,442 

58 

66,935  28 

41,492 

70 

Total  . 

.  ..$2,296,215 

90 

$6,780,631  99 

$4,484,4X6 

09 

TABLE  IV. 

The  percentage,  applied  to  each  person’s  tax  bill  in  the  several  counties, 
which  will  show  the  amount  his  taxes  would  be  reduced  if  the  Railroads  in 
his  county  paid  taxes  on  an  assessment  of  60  per  cent,  of  true  value  and 
such  appraisal  continued  to  be  distributed  among  the  counties  on  a  mileage 
basis  as  at  present. 

Total  tax  levied  in  Amount  which  Percent- 
1902  for  all  purpos-  Counties  now  age  of  loss 
COUNTIES  es,  State,  County,  lose  on  a  basis  to  total  tax 

*  and  local,  except  of  a  60%  assess-  levy  in 
special  taxes.  ment  of  true  county. 

Value. 


1 — Adams  . 

$  7,420  88 

5.67 

2— Allen  . 

.  512,547  31 

87,243  86 

17.02 

3 — Ashland  . 

.  214,004  77 

32,269  08 

15.07 

4 — Ashtabula . 

.  446,549  19 

130,422  18 

29.20 

5 — Athens  . 

.  •  260,099  85 

87,554  94 

33.66 

6 — Auglaize  . 

.  277.827  57 

18,480  03 

6.65 

7— Belmont . 

.  468,297  60 

74,684  18 

15.94 

8 — Brown  . 

197,741  91 

6,112  72 

3.09 

9 — Butler  . 

706,846  38 

44,222  64 

6.25 

10 — Carroll  . 

.  122,446  53 

16,653  88 

13.60 

11 — Champaign  . 

.  295,990  98 

29,137  57 

9.84 

12— Clark  . 

.  614,693  36 

29,729  32 

4.84 

13 — Clermont  . 

.  222,919  19 

12,537  13 

5.62 

14 — Clinton  . 

241,841  50 

30,590  40 

12.65 

15 — Columbiana  . 

.  590,517  79 

84,729  78 

14.35 

16 — Coshocton  . 

.  259,276  98 

30,154  76 

11.63 

17 — Crawford  . 

.  318,921  89  ■ 

63,852  41 

20.02 

18 — Cuyahoga  . 

.  6.590,667  94 

312,069  96 

4.74 

19 — Darke  . 

.  398,234  10 

30,196  90 

7.58 

20 — Defiance . 

.  239,263  99 

35,076  84 

14.66 

21 — Delaware  . 

.  266,472  98 

28,078  27 

10.54 

22 — Erie  . . 

.  367,343  23 

77,137  73 

21.00 

23 — Fairfield  . 

.  286,191  78 

24,669  30 

8.62 

24 — Fayette  . 

.  216,903  40 

16,804  76 

7.75 

25— Franklin . 

.  2,207,460  85 

90,699  23 

4.11 

26 — Fulton  . 

.  211,603  91 

45,641  71 

21.57 

27— Gallia  . 

.  171,838  48 

22,180  50 

12.90 

28 — Geauga  . 

.  117,693  15 

8,174  97 

6.94 

29 — Greene1  . 

.  347,059  51 

22,263  21 

6.41 

30 — Guernsey  . 

.  242,499  50 

34,217  65 

14.11 

31 — Hamilton  . 

. .  5,285,372  73 

190,625  16 

3.61 

32 — Hancock  . 

.  401,261  21 

45,608  10 

11.37 

33 — Hardin  . 

.  275,868  58 

63,404  03 

22.98 

34 — Harrison  . 

.  197,391  97 

33,929  21 

17.19 

35— Henry  . 

.  218,662  13 

42,385  44 

19.38 

36 — Highland  . 

.  250,740  13 

18,197  91 

7.26 

37 — Hocking  . 

.  125,040  35 

35,543  99 

28.42 

38 — Holmes  . 

.  130.671  00 

15,168  33 

11.61 

39 — Huron  . 

.  334,119  53 

82,404  84 

24.66 

40 — Jackson  . 

.  214,048  94 

58,246  75 

27.21 

41 — Jefferson  . 

.  434,907  91 

59,068  79 

13.58 

42 — Knox . 

.  275,375  50 

25,226  39 

9.16 

43 — Lake  . 

.  262,790  89 

45,614  18 

17.36 

44 — Lawrence  . 

.  202,115  25 

23.543  67 

11.65 

45 — Licking . 

.  478,168  23 

68,784  96 

14.38 

46 — Logan  . . 

.  292,999  72 

27,928  29 

9.53 

47 — Lorain . 

.  543,369  90 

86,117  86 

15.85 

48 — Lucas  . 

.  2.063,958  61 

151,811  46 

7.36 

49 — Madison  . 

. 258,268  59 

13,228  85 

5.12 

5-0 — Mahoning  . 

.  810.926  82 

117.451  13 

14.48 

Total  tax  levied  in 

Amount  which 

Percent¬ 

COUNTIES 

1902  for  all  purposes, 

Counties  now 

age  of  loss 

State,  County  and 

lose  on  a  basis 

to  total  tax 

local,  except 

of  a  6o%  assess¬ 

-  levy  in 

special  taxes. 

ment  of  true 

'county. 

Value. 

51 — Marion  . 

.  357,021  65 

53,858  92 

15.09 

52 — Medina  . 

.  206,187  86 

36,197  93 

17.55 

53— Meigs  . 

.  164,876  36 

10,135  26 

6.15 

54 — Mercer  . 

.  218,861  16 

19,542  60 

8.93 

55 — Miami  . 

476,908  97 

28,115  73 

5.90 

56 — Monroe  . 

.  122,614  87 

1,400  74 

1.14 

57 — Montgomery . 

.  1,602,677  03 

48,904  28 

3.05 

58 — Morgan  . 

.  169,371  04 

3,504  11 

2.07 

59 — Morrow  . 

.  139,393  71 

15,164  65 

10.88 

60 — Muskingum  . 

.  491,265  14 

42,432  09 

8.64 

61 — Noble . 

.  116,834  08 

3,936  56 

3.37 

62 — Ottawa  . 

.  210,421  87 

82,685  43 

39.30 

63 — Paulding  . 

.  214,442  64 

41,215  06 

19.22 

64 — Perry . 

.  204,592  91 

30,769  30 

15.04 

65 — Pickaway  . 

.  299,781  75 

17,169  92 

5.73 

66— Pike  . 

.  85,890  88 

17,421  21 

20.28 

67 — Portage  . 

.  272,426  59 

78,774  87 

28.92 

68— Preble  . 

.  266,787  61 

12,377  20 

4.64 

69 — Putnam  . 

.  270,543  75 

54,289  13 

20.07 

70 — Richland  . 

.  497,686  54 

81,214  37 

16.32 

71 — Ross . 

.  332,652  04 

62,350  61 

18.74 

72 — Sandusky  . 

.  353,354  72 

55,482  10 

15.70 

1 3 — Scioto  . 

.  273,767  27 

42,222  71 

15.42 

74 — Seneca  . 

.  443,528  31 

69,887  99 

15.75 

75— Shelby . 

.  259,852  31 

19,441  12 

7.48 

76 — Stark . 

.......  955,321  10 

118,962  28 

12.45 

77 — Summit . 

.  881.481  61 

75,803  49 

8.60 

78 — Trumbull  . 

.  400,235  35 

118,983  93 

29.73 

79 — Tuscarawas  . 

.  390,471  86 

68,543  35 

17.55 

80 — Union  . 

.  201,101  68 

32,877  04 

16.30 

81— Van  Wert  . 

.  282,559  51 

80,260  20 

28.40 

82 — Vinton  . 

.  58,139  94 

37,553  54 

64.59 

83 — Warren . 

.  284,281  25 

23,195  74 

8.16 

84 — Washington  . 

.  377,659  80 

21,349  05 

5.65 

85 — Wayne . 

.  298,936  16 

63,658  10 

21.29 

86 — Williams . 

.  221,154  70 

41,639  33 

18.83 

87 — Wood  . 

.  581,009  18 

94,307  32 

16.23 

88 — Wyandotte  . 

.  234,860  16 

41,492  70 

17.66 

Total . 

. $43,819,603  76 

$4,484,416  09 

10.23 

The  following  authorities  have  been  consulted  and  used,  and  the  state¬ 
ments  and  calculations  herein  made  are  based  upon  date  taken  therefrom  : 
Poor’s  Manual  of  Railroads. 

The  Manual  of  Statistics,  Stock  Exchange  Hand  Book. 

The  Commercial  and  Financial  Chronicle  and  its  Bank  and  Quotation 
Supplements. 

Reports  of  the  leading  Railroads  to  their  Stockholders. 

Reports  of  the  Inter-State  Commerce  Commission. 

Ohio  State  Auditor’s  Reports. 

Ohio  Statistics — Secretary  of  State’s  Reports. 

Ohio  Railroad  Commissioner’s  Reports. 

Michigan  Railroad  Coommissioner’s  Reports. 

Indiana  Railroad  Commissioner’s  Reports. 

Massachusetts  Railroad  Coommissioner’s  Reports. 

Connecticut  Railroad  Commissioner’s  Reports. 

Wisconsin  Railroad  Coommissioner’s  Reports. 

U.  S.  and  State  Law  Reports. 


